Mr. Kallal

 

The eulogy of Bob Kallal, January 18, 2022

Our Lady Queen of Peace

 It is my extreme honor to talk about the life of one of the most influential men in my life, Mr. Bob Kallal.

Notice I said Mister Kallal.

Generations knew him that way.

I never called him Bob to his face. It was always Mister Kallal. That’s because he engendered respect.  Whether it be as an athlete, a teacher, a coach, a businessman or just the guy who sat courtside for hundreds, if not thousands of Bethalto basketball games.

….I’m told Mr. Kallal requested I deliver this eulogy….That makes this one of the greatest honor of my life.

Bob Kallal was a gentleman. A man with morals, principles….a sense of honesty that made him stand apart.

He learned the value of hard work on the farm in Medora. When he wasn’t forced to farm, he was shooting a basketball at a rim hung on the barn. He studied the right way to shoot by checking out books and then replicating the shot, over and over. One rule prevailed----never watch the ball in flight. Watch the rim. It was almost as if it became a metaphor for his life.

Don’t watch the trajectory of your life….be focused on the goal. As all of us know, he suffered some really bad times….the loss of a wife…a son….the dishonesty of a business partner….but he never let that consume him.

He kept his eye on the goal. Today he realizes that goal-----eternity with Jeff and his Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Bob was a student of athletics. He used the same formula of study and practice to become an accomplished bowler and golfer. He understood the finer points of each sport and never stopped learning. He practiced relentlessly. His passions led him to ultimately become a great teacher and coach.

His senior year, the last year Medora High existed, Bob scored 27-points-per-game. That made him a prize recruit for Shurtleff College in Alton. Bob was pretty good at closing down schools. After his freshman year, Shurtleff also shuttered its doors.

But while at Shurtleff, Bob met an upper classman by the name of Jim Carey. That would be a faithful meeting.

After he graduated he started his teaching career, first in Alton….then St. Louis and then as the head basketball coach of the Worden Trojans.  He was contacted by Carey, who had just been named the head coach in Bethalto. Carey needed a freshman coach. He asked Bob and the rest is history. Bob Kallal-coached basketball teams won 178 times and only lost 42 from the mid-1960s to the mid 1970s.

A sidenote, I am personally responsible for 14 of those losses….nearly one-fourth of the total. He never held that against me.

I first encountered him shortly after starting in junior high.  

Coaching consumed him. He had the best team in the history of the school…it went undefeated and had, several great basketball players (some of whom are here today). The best basketball player in the school’s history, Dave Taynor was on that team. Bob never stopped Taynor from watching the ball when he shot. Only Taynor could watch the ball after he shot it and get away with it.

I was in 7^th grade and I idolized the members of that team----the class of ’70----

I found myself working for the assistant principal one summer at the junior high, hauling textbooks and cleaning out lockers.  

About a week before school started, I was walking along the hallway when I heard a man’s voice, warbling in one of the classrooms.

He was singing a popular Dionne Warwick song…..written by Burt Bacharach.

 

“What do you get when you fall in love?

You only get a life of pain and sorrow

So for at least until tomorrow

I'll never fall in love again. No, I’ll never fall in love again.

 

It was Mr. K. and he wasn’t known for his singing ability…

 

“Dont' tell me what's it all about

'Cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out

Out of those chains, those chains that bind you

That is why I'm here to remind you…

What do you get when you kiss a gal?

You get enough germs to catch pneumonia

After you do, she’ll never phone ya

I'll never fall in love again..

Don’t you know….I’ll never fall in love again.

 

That song would become prothetic. I’ll explain in a moment.

 

Bob had a tacit interest in my basketball abilities in my seventh and eighth grade years, but I truly didn’t know him. He asked how tall my mom was…..he told me to stop watching the ball when I shot it.

I wanted to be a good basketball player. I certainly practiced a lot. I idolized Taynor, a disciple of Kallal….and so….time came for me to play for Mr. K. I remember the day I showed up for the first practice.

I had my Chuck Taylor high top tennis shoes and I was wearing my Dave Taynor signature knee pads purchased at Black’s Sporting Goods in Alton.

Bob spotted me walking into practice and called me over.

“I see you are wearing knee pads,” he said. “Why?’

I said because Taynor wore knee pads.

Apparently that was the wrong answer…..

Bob looked me up and down and I’ll never forget what he said….

“Lose the knee pads. You’re no Taynor.”

I’ve always believed that is why we lost so many games. I clearly needed those knee pads.

 

But an interesting thing was occurring at our home basketball games. Just like the year before---when we played for Willard Wallace-----there was a mysterious blonde at the games…in the crowd.  It was a small town. We knew everybody who came to the gym and their connections.

In 8^th grade, the mystery blonde ultimately became Mrs. Wallace.

The same thing was happening in 9^th grade. Doneeta became that year’s mystery blonde. Allegedly from Alton. Much younger than Bob.

He was clearly dating her-----and in fact I remember him talking to my father---Bob saying he thought “she might be too young for him.”

“Age is just a number,” my dad told Bob. You would have to know my dad to understand that later in his life, he lived out that philosophy….

So thereafter it happened. Bob proposed. Doneeta accepted.

Bob often lamented their age difference would make it impossible for them to some day celebrate a golden wedding anniversary.

Six months ago. I was incredibly honored to perform the ceremony where Bob and Doneeta renewed their vows after 50 years of matrimony.  

Of course the marriage produced another child, Joanna. She has always been his devoted daughter. His love for her was total and obvious.

 

For a moment….Bob had a number of quirks which ended up greatly affecting my life. For instance…

His research indicated that a child’s growth, their height, was largely dictated by the genetics of the mother. He spent his lifetime asking young basketball players this question:

“How tall is your mother?” Also…

“Do you have any tall aunts or grandparents?”

The whole practice became a problem for me because I wanted basketball players in my house too. (You can ask my son Andy). When he brought home a young woman, I would do my best Kallal.

I didn’t ask about her education or her background……I would look her over for potential breeding stock and ask her: “How tall is your mother?”

Before long, the boys stopped bringing girls around.

Now…

I need to talk about a key moment in my life and its meaning. This point is hard for me so bear with me.

Shortly before Jeff’s death, I lost touch with my own dad. We just stopped talking.

I was in need of a father figure. That’s when Bob lost Jeff. He apparently needed a son to father. We bonded. I owe him so much for his time and love.

 

Today is so hard for many of us because he was so much a part of our lives. He was so influential.

 

I took a few moments to scan the things said on social media when news started to spread about his death.

Here’s just a couple of comments…

“He taught me so much about the game of basketball plus his morals and ethics made him a person I always looked up to. God bless Coach Kallal and his great family.”---Jeff Stephens.

Mike Rethorn said: “A treasure to all of us who received great coaching and mentorship from him.”

Steve Porter, the former Alton Telegraph sports editor told me: “Bob loved basketball as much as anyone I’ve ever known.”

Dave Taynor told me: “Mr. Kallal was the best coach and teacher I ever had.”

 

 

And finally this from Scott Schroeder…

“He was an angel on earth and now we have an angel in heaven to look over us….

…and whisper to us to stop looking at the ball when we shoot.”

 

St. Peter is going to learn….only Taynor can do that.

 

God Bless Robert Kallal.

Coach Kallal.

Mr. Kallal.